'We wish to express our deepest regret': Bulletstorm and Outriders dev People Can Fly suspends unannounced projects in yet another wave of gaming layoffs
Sebastian Wojciechowski, People Can Fly CEO, shared some disheartening news in an announcement on LinkedIn on Sunday. Not only is the studio indefinitely suspending two games it had in development, it is also scaling down its staff. Both are the result of negotiations with a publisher falling through and a lack of adequate resources and funding to continue the projects, codenamed Gemini and Bifrost.
As Wojciechowski detailed in the announcement, "The suspension of the Gemini project is a consequence of the fact that the Publisher has not presented us with a draft of the subsequent content rider to the Publishing Agreement covering the terms and conditions of further milestones on project Gemini and the lack of communication from the Publisher as to its willingness to continue or terminate the Gemini project."
"Project Bifrost was suspended due to the above and the analysis of the Group's cash flow, which showed a lack of prospects for securing organizational resources and funds necessary to continue the production and release of this project."
That's a mouthful, but in layman's terms: Wojciechowski is seriously laying into Gemini's unnamed publisher, claiming that it just left People Can Fly on read for long enough that they have to cancel the project. The knock-on financial effect means the studio can't keep going with Bifrost either. To make matters worse, with both games indefinitely on hold, People Can Fly has to "scale down" its teams, meaning some of the studio's staff are losing their jobs.
Wojciechowski concluded his statement on a somber note, saying, "We wish to express our deepest regret and sadness over how these events have unfolded and our sincere gratitude for everyone's contribution up to this point."
The announcement does not mention exactly how many people will be laid off or if People Can Fly wants to leave the door open to return to projects Gemini and Bifrost—but the prognosis isn't good. "Gemini" and "Bifrost" are the code names of games that haven't been officially revealed yet, but after this news, it looks like we might not ever find out what those games were supposed to be.
People Can Fly still has a ton of projects still in development, though. It's been announced that the studio will be co-developing the upcoming Gears of War prequel, E-Day, alongside The Coalition, and they are also working on the co-op survival shooter, Lost Rift. People Can Fly also appears to have three unannounced projects still in development: Bison, Echo, and Delta.
Lost Rift appears to still be on track for its early access release, with a May 27 Steam post announcing a demo for the game will be available next week as part of Steam Next Fest.
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